Five collegians from Mumbai killed

Five collegians from Mumbai were killed and two severely injured when the Scorpio they were traveling in rammed into a tree at Barshiv Naka on the Murud -Alibaug road on Thursday afternoon.

Nilesh Janani (25) from Chembur, Shammi Gawar (21) from Santacruz, Manasi Khatar (20) from Malad, Supriya Shetty (20) from Jogeshwari, Divya Nayar (20) from Kandivali died on the spot while the two other occupants of the Scorpio- Sashi Chambiar (21) from Malad and Kuber Swaroop (20)from Andheri are presently recuperating at the Lilavati Hopital. All are TYBMM students at Bhavans college in Andheri who were on their way to Murud for an outing. In fact, nine of their friends were trailing them in two Maruti Omni cars.

According to the Revdanda police, in whose jurisdiction the accident occurred, nine out of the 16 friends had started at off 8.00 am on Thursday in two Omni cars from Bhavans College in Andheri where they all met. They reached Chembur where Nilesh was waiting in his Scorpio (MH 03 Z, 891), with the six others in the vehicle.

The group then halted for breakfast at Chembur and then started off together for Murud.

As the three cars reached Salav Bridge near Murud, Nilesh, who was driving the Scorpio started speeding up. "He drove the vehicle in top speed, leaving the Omnis far behind", API S Patil of Revdanda police station told HT on Friday.

Finally, when the Omnis reached Murud road in Alibaug, they saw the Scorpio rammed into a roadside tree with their friends lying in pools of blood. The seven occupants of the vehicle were then rushed to the near by Revdanda hospital by their friends.

While five of them Nilesh, Shammi, Manasi, Supriya, Divya had died on the spot, Sashi and Kuber who suffered injuries all over were then shifted to the Sion Hospital and later shifted to the Lilavati hospital.

According to the police, the mishap occurred as Nilesh lost control over the vehicle. "Due to the speed, he might have lost control over the vehicle leading to the accident", said the API Patil, adding that preliminary reports did not show any signs of Nilesh having consumed alcohol.

Patil said that the questioning of the friends and the injured also revealed that none of them had consumed alcohol.